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Monday, July 18, 2011

Learning is a Lifelong Process

Once you get out of school, you soon realize that learning doesn't end after graduation. It's a lifelong process, whether it is to benefit to your career, your personal growth, or even your personal interests and hobbies. Here in Nashville, singers, songwriters and musicians of all genres are so fortunate to have at their finger tips access to wonderful learning resources to help them in honing their craft. The great thing about these resources too is that they are not just limited only to artists based here in Nashville. They are open to anyone in the country, or even the world for that matter, who is serious about the development of his or her talents and the investment of time, energy, and resources to becoming an even better artist.

One of the most recognized resources for songwriters is the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). However, its programs are not just for songwriters, but also for performing artists, and the programs are not limited to topics related to just the country music genre, but to all genres of music. NSAI also provides legislative and professional development support for its members, and has chapters throughout the United States and the world (hence the "International" part of the organization's name!).

The staff members at NSAI are so warm, friendly, and encouraging, and I have been fortunate to have made some lasting professional relationships with them in such a short time. They really "get" and understand the importance of image and media coaching for both performing artists AND songwriters, and I am grateful to them for promoting this important ingredient in a successful music career by including me in their programming and encouraging members to seek out my services.

I am honored to serve as one of the "pro faculty" for NSAI, and am also very honored to get to speak at this year's NSAI Fall Songposium (Sept. 20-23; click here to register) where I will be presenting two programs as part of 120 a la carte classes:

Get Your SPIN On! How to Make an IMPACT on Radio! (Click here for class description.)

In addition to the NSAI Fall Songposium, another great resource for performing artists is this fall's Tom Jackson Bootcamp, which is a 2-day (Sept. 9th &10th) intensive workshop focused on helping artists improve the production of their live performances to draw in more fans, larger audiences, and attraction from music industry executives.

Tom works with artists such as Taylor Swift, Jordin Sparks, and The Band Perry, just to name a few. I have seen first-hand the amazing transformations he is able to take a band's onstage performance through to something that can mesmerize audiences. When an audience has an experience like that from an act's onstage performance, they want to experience that same feeling time and time again and will try to do so by returning to shows and purchasing CDs. I've seen in just one hour of Tom working with a band on the production of a particular song how it looked by the end of that hour. The performance of the song looked like one of my clients' "after" pictures! It was completely enhanced and polished to look amazing!

I believe so much in what Tom does because it directly relates to the importance of a visual for one's music, much like image does. He also sees the connection between the visual of someone's image on stage and the visual performance. As a result, he has asked me to come in and provide a session during the bootcamp entitled The Importance of Image in Promoting Your Talent. The bootcamp is open to anyone in or from outside the Nashville area, but space is limited and is filling up quickly. To register for the Sept. 9th & 10th bootcamp which includes the importance of image program, click here.

While there are numerous professional development programs and events out there available to singers and songwriters, these are two that I think all singers and songwriters should consider. I wouldn't spend my time and energy presenting programs for these events if they weren't ones I believed in. It's definitely worth your investment for either or both programs, and I hope to see you there!